[Open] Training for the big night

[distinctive_guy]

CHARACTERS: distinctive_guy and [OPEN]
DATE: Sept 01 (Day 8, night)
RATING: General, maybe a bit of violence
SUMMARY: Eliot's working off some energy in the training hall, anyone want to join?

Comments

[token_vengeance]

Erik needed to work off some of his extra energy, both physically and mentally. If they were going to have to compete in games, he would have to be in peak physical condition, along with his powers. He hated that he had to play the game but if it would get him and Charles (along with the others) off this island quickly, then so be it. He'd play along for now.

Dressed in sweat pants, Erik moved into the training room, a flicker of a frown hitting his face when he saw he wasn't alone. Well, he could share well enough. If the other had an issue of him practicing his powers, well...the other could leave. Or catch a dumbbell in the face.

Giving Eliot a slight nod, Erik went over to the stationary bike to warm up.

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot looked up briefly from his routine when the other man entered and nodded silently back in greeting. He didn't particularly recognize the man (any video he saw included the helmet) so he watched in his peripheral vision while he continued to beat the filling out of his sandbag.

As he wound down towards a resting period, Eliot gave the abused bag a final punch before heading to the the bench where he left his stuff where, after a glance, took up only a towel and a water bottle. He threw the cloth over his shoulders and strolled towards the weights, beside the bikes, with his water.

"Haven't seen you around much," he said as he sat on the bench, keeping his tone friendly, just idle chatter between two guys working out.

[token_vengeance]

...of course the human would want to make idle chatter. Even in the beginning, before he had met Charles, Erik had never been one to make friends. He had one mission, and one mission only--other people got in the way of that.

Stopping his peddling, he leaned against the handlebars, keeping his face completely neutral. "Considering I only arrived a few days ago, I'm not surprised." He kept his tone dry, emotionless.

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot tilted his head to observe the other and some of his loose hair fell free of his pony tail to fall over his face. A second later, he brushed it back along with a shrug, effectively breaking off his gaze and whatever he was looking for. His shoulders fell into a downward slump and he deposited his water bottle on the ground beside him.

"That explains that. You're part of the second group." He leaned back against the weight machine and looked briefly at the setting behind him and hesitated as if unsure he could lift the set amount. Without turning back to the stranger, he continued, "Kinda discouragin', how they keep bringing more people here but no one knows of a fast way to get off."

[token_vengeance]

"That's exactly what it's meant to be--discouraging." Erik enunciated the word, as if to stay in stark contrast to the other's accent. "By bringing people in waves, the previous group always stays discouraged and disheartened. The feeling that there will be no escape begins to seem like reality. That is when complacency starts."

This place, aside from the game aspect, reminded him too much of the camps for him not to constantly draw parallels. It made his stomach twist, but gave him the extra resolve to make sure that they would get out.

[distinctive_guy]

"It's workin'," Eliot answered, grimacing when his weak guy's act wasn't all of an act and some of the past three weeks of doubts he kept bottled up finally leaked through. Not that he doubted they will escape, he escaped longer captivity from tighter guarded places, but it was disheartening nonetheless. Just a little.

"Before we know it, we'll be runnin' around these compounds like we've lived here all our lives. Startin' to feel that way already." Eliot added just enough desperation to the next look he sent the other's way as if to say, I've been here longer than you have. To top the act off, he followed it with a bolstering breath like someone trying to pull themselves together, for the benefit of any security cameras that may have the right people watching behind them.

[token_vengeance]

"No we won't." Erik let the words slipped from his lips, short and clipped. He could sense the metal on the other man, and he regarded him evenly, cool blue eyes passing over his frame.

"For someone acting timid, you are certainly more well armed than a normal coward." Crossing his arms over his chest, Erik raised an eyebrow. It was a simple challenge, to see how far Eliot would push the farce.

[distinctive_guy]

"I ain't coward," Eliot growled because no man, lacking or otherwise, would stand by such an insult. What he would do about it was what determined the type of person he was, and he chose to stand down and start lifting weights. "I just see a dauntin' situation as it is."

Flickering glances towards Erik between pulls, Eliot finally stopped and gave him a frown. "What do you want?" Asked in a tone like he wished Erik would go away, not demanded. Yeah, he had a knife in his boot and another strapped to his leg, and several more items taken off for exercising but there in his stuff, but it was night time. It was reasonable to be armed.

[token_vengeance]

"Good to know." Erik flashed the other a vicious smile, before letting his face fall back to amused neutrality. At least the man had a backbone, and knew when to stand up for himself.

Shrugging, Erik moved away from Eliot slightly, and with a flick of his wrist, raised one of twenty pound weights, bringing it to over easily towards him. "You seem the type of man built for more than idle work. Someone who might be planning something."

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot's mask momentarily dropped when the floating weight passed by his line of sight. Surprise took predominance before his guarded wariness slammed down. The expression was quickly chased away by an almost submissive averting of eyes as he tried to process what he just saw. Solid heavy metal didn't just suspend in midair- except perhaps on an island where the impossible happened anyway.

When he looked up again, he included a healthy amount of caution within his gaze. Nothing that would reflect how aware he really was, but enough to pull him up from 'useless' to 'inadequate'. "I try, yeah. Trainin' kicks in, but the police academy never taught you what to do when you're kidnapped to an island full of monsters or people who can float dumbbells."

[token_vengeance]

Erik smirked, enjoying the change in Eliot's face. It was good to know that some humans knew how to react to a show of mutations. The sign of evolution right before their eyes.

"I do hope it taught you to survive, at least, no matter what you're up against. Or did they keep their teaching's too narrow."

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot's eye twitched but he managed to tone down his desire for violence into a dirty look he shot the guy's way. "I may not know how to move things with my mind, but I've gone through outdoor trainin'." Not that most real police officers in Boston would actually know what to do with such training, but Eliot chose his cover story and he was going to stick by it.

"I'm a man of the force," because being a police officer was so intimidating -Eliot resisted the urge to roll his eyes- "but it's just a job. I'm tryin' my best here like the next man stuck here."

[token_vengeance]

"Fair enough." Erik smirked slightly, knowing that this must be annoying the other man to know end. Not fully understanding what he is seeing--wanting to do something about it, but choosing the smarter road of doing nothing.

"It isn't with my mind, either. I am no telepath, no telekentics. I have the ability to control metal. It's a genetic mutation."

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot hung sharply to the man's words and already his mind was digging out the weaknesses, assuming the man was speaking the truth, to that sort of power. The same things that would get through airport security would get past the man, ceramic knives, plastic pistols... not that there were such things on the island.

"Yeah? Sounds like it can be useful." He gave an unsettled grin like he wasn't sure if he should be smiling or not. "All this talkin', don't think I caught your name."

[token_vengeance]

"To say the least." Erik smirked. At least the other man had the decency not to cower in fear, or choose the worse option--looking at him like he were some circus freak.

"Erik Lehnsherr." Might as well give his real name. Not that the other man could do much with it.

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot gave Erik a brief look, then answered, "Eliot Spooner." He might as well stick to the mixed alias he had been using this hellish month. By now he realized he didn't make a difference, but something about the other man had him holding back anyway.

Not that he wasn't interested in knowing more about the so called mutant powers. Starting up on pulling on the weights behind him, Eliot gave Erik a less hesitant smile and asked in casual conversation, "You said control? What else can you do with metal?"